Torn
by JuleeT
Summary: .."He was a predator. It was against his primal instincts to let his prey roam free for long." Sequel to Waiting [Part III added on October 22, 2004]
1. Torn 1

**Torn [1/3]**

**Author's Note: I am in no way affiliated with Wolf Lake or any of its Characters. Only the character of Calen Ryans is mine. **

**This is the sequel to Waiting. The prequel must be read for any of this to make sense. **

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**_Luke_**

He had been absent at the time of Sophia's change.

The transformation had taken place only minutes after their mating.

But he hadn't been there due to _other_ duties.

He supposed he could blame Sophia for being so inherently private and failing to tell him of the significance of her color.

But he knew that the real blame rested on his own shoulders,

in his own inability to suppose that Sophia would be special.

That she was special.

He could have urged her to join him in a run,

to change into her wolven form in front of him.

But after he and the rest of the pack had sensed the scent of the change on her, no one had bothered because she couldn't be anything other than ordinary.

But she was.

**__**

**_Sophia_**

After the incident in the woods, she had avoided Luke.

Not because she was afraid of him, but because she was afraid of what she would do to him.

Coupled with the anger at his ruthless torture of Calen, was the pain, agony, and humiliation she still held inside of her at his utter rejection.

For the first few weeks, she had been successful.

Luke hadn't been any more eager for their second confrontation.

But then he was a predator.

And it was against his primal instincts to let his prey roam free for long.

****

**_Luke_**

Even as he realized that he loved Sophia, he couldn't overcome his pride to lay it all down on the line.

If human men had problems confessing to their feelings due to a hatred of vulnerability, it was even more so for him.

The man in him may have rebelled against vulnerability, but the wolf in him abhored it.

His refusal to become vulnerable in front of anyone, even Sophia-

That had been his second mistake.

He should have known that nothing but a complete confession would even begin to thaw Sophia's frozen heart.

But he hadn't known. And by the time he had, it was already too late.

****

**_Sophia_**

In those days and weeks, life had been a chaotic blur to her.

If it wasn't Luke demanding her to give him her time,

It was Calen, subtly demanding answers about Luke.

To Luke, she gave a cold shoulder, refusing to even acknowledge his existence-

much like he had her.

To Calen, she gave riddled answers, woven through with half lies and half truths. Because deny it as much as she would like, she was still a skin-walker. And her words determined whether her father and her people would remain safe.

Neither were satisfied.

It didn't matter though, because in the end, they were mere puppets.

Puppets that were being strung along to a prophecy that allowed some more control than others.

She was an other.

She had no way of knowing that she was slowly unwinding a prophecy.

A prophecy that stated only one would emerge the victor,

only one could emerge alive.

****

**_Luke_**

It had finally begun to sink into his thick skull.

Sophia wasn't coming back.

Even after she had coldly stated her lack of love for him, he had still believed with some pursuit on his part, she would eventually capitulate.

She didn't.

With her increasing joy with Calen, came his increasing frustration at being denied what he thought was rightfully his.

He had been so arrogant. He had been so truly blind.

He had thought that it was a mere contest of wills,

Man Vs. Wolf

A stage that Sophia would have to go through before finally realizing that she belonged with the superior of the two.

A recurrent thought that kept cycling in his subconscious was that if he hadn't known any better, he would have thought Calen was one of them.

There was something primitive, primal, something inherently different about him.

But if Ryans was a fellow skin-walker, he would have been able to smell it on him.

And he didn't.

Therefore he couldn't have been a skin-walker.

This logical assumption--

That was another mistake.

****

**Any Reviews/Criticisms will be Appreciated**

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	2. Torn 2

**Torn [2/3]**

**Author's Note: I am in no way affiliated with Wolf Lake or any of its characters. Only the character of Calen Ryans is mine. **

**I just wanted to thank everyone who left me a small note after the first chapter. Those reviews really encouraged me as I wrote this chapter. A new semester is beginning so I'm unsure as to when my next update will be, but I'll try not to make the wait too long! Thanks once again, and enjoy the chapter!**

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**_Sophia_**

She didn' t think that the memory of the look of horror on her father's face would ever fade from her mind.

At first, she had naturally assumed that he had been dismayed at her for giving up on her human side.

The white wolf glinting victoriously back at her from her father's dark orbs told her that it was so much more that that.

She couldn't quell the momentary exhilaration and triumph that surged through her.

She would finally be respected,

Finally be envied,

Finally be considered one of them.

But more than anything else, she would finally be considered worthy of Luke.

Then her father began speaking-

And the exhilaration turned into fear.

There would be purists within the group who would not stand for a white half-breed.

Purists who could possibly hurt her, perhaps even kill her-

She had agreed when her father had asked her to keep her color as secret, with the one stipulation that if Luke asked her to change for him, she would.

Her father had angrily rejected the idea. But in the end she had refused to compromise and it had been agreed. If Luke asked, he would be told.

She could still remember the worry in his eyes.

But her father shouldn't have worried.

Because Luke had never asked.

_****_

_**Luke**_

Before he knew it, a year had flown by and the situation hadn't changed.

He wanted Sophia but she wanted Ryans.

He could never have imagined a year of being unable to touch Sophia.

Even after his decision to deign Prestly with the title of his mate, he had never considered for a moment that there would be a time when Sophia would be unavailable to him.

It was just that outrageous of a concept to him.

But it shouldn't have been. And it soon wasn't, because he experienced it.

It was hell on earth.

Still, he would have been completely satisfied to continue living his delusion that Sophia would return to him. Believing that deep, deep inside, past all the anger and hurt at his rejection, she continued to love him.

But seeing her wrapped in the Ryans' arms, an expression of complete happiness and content on her face-

That had been his undoing.

So he had decided that he would be selfless for once.

Although Sophia wouldn't be aware of it, he would give up his fight to win back her love.

So that she could have _her _love.

And he would spend the rest of his life regretting that it had been his ambition that had lost her in the first place.

But then Sherman had called him into his office after class,

And Everything had changed.

**__**

**_Sophia_**

Calen made her happy. Of that there was never a doubt.

The fact that she would never love him with the depth and intensity that she had loved Lucas with, was something that she would never admit to Calen, or herself.

Too bad that it hadn't made it any less true.

But she did care for Calen; perhaps even enough that it could be called love.

She had cared enough that she had noticed and worried when he would slip odd-looking blue and white pills into his mouth whenever he thought she wasn't looking.

She couldn't have possibly known that those blue and white pills were the first indicators of things not appearing as they seemed.

She couldn't have possibly known that the secret she harbored about her heritage and her people could be considered almost minor next to the magnitude of the secret that Calen held from her.

A secret that was crucial in pushing the prophecy into motion.

**__**

**_Luke_**

He could have never expected what he heard from Sherman's lips that day.

'_Sophia is a white wolf, Luke.' _

He had been dazed. At first, he had refused to believe Sherman, thinking that it was some twisted joke Sherman was trying to play on him.

Sherman, seeing the disbelief in his eyes, quietly spoke seven words.

'_She goes for her run at four.' _

Even hiding behind a group of trees at four in the morning, he had held onto his element of disbelief.

He hadn't doubted that Sophia was unique.

But a half-breed being a white wolf was unheard of.

His skepticism had still remained even as Sophia approached the woods and began to strip.

As she neatly folded the clothes she had stepped out of and put them to the side, he had allowed his starving eyes to devour her. The flawless pale skin which had once been in constant contact with his hands, his mouth- was still beautiful, still perfect.

She took a breath and allowed for the change to occur.

And it did.

Up until the pale skin transformed effortlessly in white fur, Luke held onto his distrust of Sherman's knowledge.

But moments later, when the white wolf bounded joyfully off to begin her morning run, Luke was unable to dispute the truth.

Sophia was a white wolf. The worthy mate of an Alpha Male.

His shock turned into ecstasy as he realized that Sherman couldn't have given him clearer proof that Sophia and he belonged together, were meant for each other.

He wouldn't have to give Sophia up to the human so that she could be happy, because she wasn't created for Calen,

She had been born to be the mate of an Alpha,

She had been born for him.

In his joy, he couldn't have imagined that Sherman may have had an ulterior motive.

How could he have known that Sherman had been performing his task as the puppeteer of the prophecy?

How was he to have known that Sherman had been shifting him as well as Sophia and Calen into the position they needed to be in, so that the fulfillment of the prophecy could come to pass?

A prophecy that would change Wolf Lake and the lives of every single skin-walker, forever.

A prophecy that would either cement him in his role as the Alpha, or lead to his death.

**Any and All Reviews/Criticisms will be gratefully appreciated!**


	3. Torn 3

**Torn 3/3**

**Author's Note: I am in no way affiliated with Wolf Lake or any of its Characters. Only the character of Calen Ryans is mine. **

**Real life as it always does, had gotten in the way of writing... which is why I present the conclusion of "Torn" to you after such a long time. **

**Thank you, as usual, for all the wonderful replies. Enjoy. **

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**Luke**

It had started with a rose.

He had watched from a corner as Sophia sniffed at the perfect bloom in delight; the bright smile on her face clearly indicative that she assumed Ryans to be its sender.

When she noticed the small white card that lied innocently on top of her textbooks, she put the rose down and opened it.

He knew exactly what was on the card.

He had written it after all.

'_This rose reminded me of your lips after one of our kisses.' _

_-L_

He had quickly stepped back into the darkness as Sophia lifted her head to dart her eyes from the left to the right, looking for him.

She had grabbed the rose and the card and slammed her locker shut. Without hesitation, she had dumped both into the garbage as she headed to her next class.

He had smiled.

He would get to her soon enough.

The next day it had been perfume- the one that she would shyly sprits on before allowing him to make love to her.

She had given it a moment's hesitation before throwing it out.

Day forty one and she had not stopped throwing his gifts away. But the pauses- the pauses before she would throw them away would get progressively longer.

It gave him hope.

He had waited in anticipation as Sophia warily approached her locker and gave a quick glance to the left and right before turning the combination to open it.

It was his last and ultimate gift.

Whereas all the gifts preceding it were either exquisite or costly, this one had no price.

In the most basic of terms, he was returning a gift that she had given him.

He had narrowed in on the slight tremble of her delicate hand as she lifted the paper closer as if to verify its actual existence.

It had been the first love letter that she had ever written him. The paper was yellowing with age and had multiple creases in it from where it had been folded, time after time, but it was the very same one she had written him three years ago.

On the bottom of the letter, he had added his own note.

_I always needed to carry a piece of you with me. _

Sophia had gently folded the letter back into its original shape and walked towards the garbage can.

She extended her hand over the opening- then quickly rescinded it as if she were burned and pocketed the letter.

He had gotten to her.

****

**Sophia**

After barely managing to survive Luke's betrayal, she had decided that she would never allow another to have such control over her life that they could cause her that much pain.

Her life would be completely under her control- no one else's.

She had thought that she had been doing so well.

She had been the one to decide to go out with Calen, fall in love with Calen. She had been the one to decide to coldly reject Luke although the small rebellious part of her heart angrily opposed. And she was the only one who really knew what the extent of her power, her destiny was.

She had been proud of herself- of her control.

She shouldn't have been.

The control that she had found so precious and so easily within grasp was a lot further away then she knew.

She had always thought that it was with Luke's gifts that her sense of control over her life had begun to elude her.

Looking back, she realized that her control had been gone long before that.

It wasn't with Luke that her control started disappearing-

It was with Calen.

She should have known, with the blue and white pills, with his constant whispered phone calls, with his increasing friendliness with the Hill crowd.

But she hadn't known. Or she hadn't wanted to know.

She would rather have been oblivious to it all, believing in her non-existent control over her life, then to accept the truth.

But she hadn't had the choice. Because the truth had been forced on her.

She had been unable to sleep and had headed towards the woods for a run when she had seen him.

She had watched with a sort of sick fascination as the body that was never supposed to shift, did.

Calen sensing immediately that not all was as it should be had swiftly turned his head. She had remained frozen, as his yellow eyes pierced into hers.

Seamlessly, he had shifted back into his human form.

She had instinctively taken a step back as he had slowly approached her. As he began to speak, she had held up a hand.

'_Why couldn't I sense you?" _

He had explained that pills that he took prevented him from being sensed. His parents had been skin walkers who had escaped Wolf Lake after developing the pills.

He had smiled, unashamed in his nakedness. '_Now we can really be together.' _

She hadn't been able to explain the pang of agony that had shot through her at his words.

That night, she had been sitting motionless on her bed, when he had tapped at her window.

Walking over, she had opened it, allowing him in.

Luke had gracefully climbed through, and then stood there. After a hesitant pause, he had spoken.

'_I realized after everything I sent you... I had never told you that I loved you.' _

It figured that her sense of control over her life had all been a figment of her imagination.

Because, she realized, all it took was three words.

'_I love you.' _

And her control was gone.

She was torn.

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**Any and all Reviews/Criticisms will be extremely appreciated. **

**There's a conclusion to the trilogy that I'm currently working on, titled "Invincible". Be on the look out for it **

**It'll bring an end to the prophecy and the triangle. **


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